Why ovaries of zucchini rot and what to do?

When growing zucchini, gardeners may notice that they rot on the vine. This may be due to both errors in the preparation of the soil, and improper planting care. All possible causes of rotting zucchini and ways to eliminate such a problem will be considered further.

Unsuitable site

When cultivating vegetable crops, it is imperative to take into account the correct agricultural technology, otherwise it will not be possible to get healthy root crops without signs of decay. In the case of zucchini, you will need to proceed from the following rules:

1. Cultivate in the same place with an interval of 4 years. The plant takes from the soil a certain set of trace elements that it needs the most, so in the next years the depleted land will not be able to fully saturate it. In addition, it retains pests and harmful substances released by the root system of seedlings during growth.

For the next generation of squash, these wastes are dangerous, but for other crops they are harmless, as they show resistance to similar products of squash life.

In order to quickly return zucchini to your favorite site, you should periodically grow green manure (oats, wheat) in the garden. They cleanse the earth of harmful products left by plants, and at the same time enrich the soil.

2. Do not plant in the area where related crops have grown before. These include:

  • cucumbers;
  • melon;
  • watermelon;
  • pumpkin.

3. Plant after good predecessors, which include:

  • tomatoes;
  • potatoes;
  • beet;
  • cabbage;
  • carrot;
  • bow;
  • greens (lettuce, parsley, dill, spinach).

To get a good harvest of zucchini and prevent rotting, it is worth planting them on the east or north side of the potato bed.

Bad weather conditions

Zucchini belongs to the southern heat-loving crops, therefore it does not tolerate cold snaps, frequent rains, excessive air humidity and lack of sunlight. A weakening plant is not able to saturate all the fruits with the necessary trace elements, therefore, it gets rid of some of the ovaries.

Sharp changes in daily temperatures also lead to a decrease in plant immunity, when during the day the air temperature exceeds + 30 ยฐ C, and at night it drops to + 10 … + 15 ยฐ C. For bushes, these are stressful conditions in which they become vulnerable to decay.

Of course, the gardener cannot fight the weather, but he should take a number of measures to protect the planting from adverse climatic conditions:

  • At night, cover the plantings with agrofibre, and in rainy and cold weather, build a visor from a film or simply use an old umbrella, setting it above the center of the bush. The main thing is to cover the flowers and the resulting ovaries, since raindrops pose a great threat to them. It is also worth putting straw or planks under the fruits.

    To facilitate planting care, it is worth growing zucchini under arcs, and changing the covering material depending on specific weather conditions.

  • To increase the soil temperature at night, use ordinary plastic water bottles or bricks. They just need to be placed around the bushes. During the day, they heat up in the sun, and at night they give off heat to the plant and the earth.
  • Cold and damp ground should be mulched. Thanks to this manipulation, the zucchini will lie on a dry litter, so the risk of rotting is significantly reduced. In addition, the mulch prevents the soil from becoming very hot during the day and quickly cooling at night, which helps to avoid sudden daily temperature changes.

Micronutrient deficiency

One of the most common reasons leading to rotting of squash ovaries is a lack of trace elements. Pumpkin plants are especially sensitive to the lack of such substances:

  • Yoda. Its deficiency is often provoked by watering plants with water with a high iron content. To compensate for it, you need to spray the plants once a season with a solution of 2 g of potassium iodide per 10 liters of water.
  • Bora. It may initially be lacking in the soil. To make up for this deficiency, you need to spray the plant with a solution of boric acid at the rate of 2 g per 10 liters of water. Alternatively, complex fertilizers containing boron can be used.

In order to prevent a shortage of trace elements, zucchini should be fertilized in advance with a mixture of 5 g of superphosphate and 2 g of urea per 1 liter of water. The first top dressing should be carried out 10 days after germination, and the second – a week later.

dense plantings

If the weather conditions are favorable and the plants look good and the zucchini are regularly fed, but the ovaries still rot, most likely the zucchini are planted too close together. In such conditions, the grown leaves do not allow the ovaries to receive the right amount of sunlight and fresh oxygen, which leads to the development of rot.

To solve this problem, you just need to remove the part of the leaf plate that covers the center of the bush. For preventive purposes, it is also worth regularly thinning the leaves and removing weeds to help warm and ventilate the ovaries.

Zucchini grows close

Old leaves and faded inflorescences

As the bushes develop, the lower leaves begin to turn yellow and die off. They gradually rot, and the fungi freely pass to the still tender skin of the ovaries and also provoke their decay. To prevent this, you need to remove the lower leaves lying on the ground once a week. To do this, you can use a sharp knife or secateurs.

Faded buds remaining on the spouts of young zucchini are no less a threat. During periods of rain or during irrigation, they absorb moisture like a sponge, begin to rot and infect root crops. It is worth regularly identifying and removing them, and sprinkle the cut with ash. It will contribute to the formation of a protective film that will prevent excess moisture from entering the fetus itself.

When removing flowers, you need to act selectively so as not to accidentally remove live, elastic and brightly colored inflorescences. If the ovary has not yet pollinated, removing the reproductive organs of the plant will leave the gardener without a zucchini crop.

Violation of the irrigation regime

If watering the zucchini is excessive and plentiful, they provoke increased soil moisture near the stem. All this inevitably leads to rotting of the ovaries themselves. If you follow the rules for watering the crop, you can prevent such consequences and get a rich harvest of root crops:

  • When watering the beds, pour water directly under the root so that drops do not fall on the leaves and stems. To do this, you should not allow strong pressure, as well as irrigate the bushes from a watering can. It is best to resort to a drip irrigation system, which promotes an even distribution of moisture between the roots of plants and prevents drops from falling on the green mass.
  • Heat-loving zucchini do not react well to cold, so when watering, you need to use warm (+15 … + 20หšC) water. It is desirable that it be infused and warmed up in the sun.
  • When growing zucchini in open ground, it is recommended to moisten the soil as a crust forms on its surface. The average water consumption rate is 10 liters per 1 sq. m. It can be slightly increased during the period of tying root crops and lowered when they ripen.
  • Rarely water zucchini in a greenhouse, otherwise you can provoke increased air humidity, which will lead to rotting of the crop. In cold weather, it is recommended to additionally heat the greenhouse and plants.
  • Alternate wet and “dry” watering to solve the problem of waterlogging. After irrigation, a dry crust always forms on the soil surface. If it is carefully loosened to a depth of 3-4 cm, you can slow down the process of moisture evaporation by 2 times. It should be borne in mind that the roots of the plant spread widely from the stem (from 1 to 1,5 m), so the soil should be loosened at different distances from it, but not deep, so as not to damage the delicate petioles located in the upper soil layer (from 0 up to 35 cm).

Insufficient pollination

Root crops appear on the bushes as a result of pollination. Female flowers are already forming with the beginnings of small marrows. If the flower is not pollinated, the ovary stops developing and rots. As a rule, this occurs in hot or cloudy weather due to a lack of pollinating insects.

If there are suspicions that the plant is not pollinated, this procedure must be carried out manually. To do this, it is enough to pick a male flower, and then use a brush or cotton swab to transfer pollen from its stamens to the stigma of a female flower.

Fungal diseases

The reason for the rotting of the ovaries may be hidden in the defeat of the plant by fungal diseases, which most often occurs in conditions of high humidity at low air temperatures. When infected, a white or gray coating appears on the stems, leaves and ovaries, which gradually turns into depressed spots.

Among fungal diseases, the cause of rotting zucchini often becomes:

  • Muฤnistaรข rosa. It appears as a whitish coating in the form of flour. It can be found on leaves and stems, and then on inflorescences and small ovaries. The fungus spreads rapidly, and the white spots turn red and turn black, causing various parts of the plant to rot.
    Sick specimens must be removed from the site and burned, and the rest of the planting should be treated with preparations containing copper, for example, copper sulfate or Bordeaux liquid. This should be done a week before the planned harvest.
  • White rot. The disease first affects the tops, and then spreads to young ovaries and causes their mass decay. All diseased parts are first deformed and wrinkled, and then rot and fall off. White rot may be due to a lack of potassium in the soil, therefore, to eliminate the problem, the bush must be fertilized with potassium nitrate or another preparation that contains this trace element.

If any fungal diseases are suspected, the affected tops and root crops should be cut and burned, and the cut site should be treated with wood ash. With severe lesions, you will need to use fungicides. The following drugs are effective:

  • Topaz;
  • Ridomil;
  • Confidop;
  • Spark;
  • ะคะธั‚ะพะฒepะผ;
  • Tiovit Jet.

Chemical agents are recommended to be used 30 days before the expected harvest.

In order not to have to resort to the use of fungicides, zucchini diseases should be prevented by observing the correct watering regime for this and removing old leaves in a timely manner. In addition, for preventive purposes, it is worth adding a weakly concentrated iodine solution to the soil (3 drops of iodine per 10 liters of water). With this tool, you need to water the bushes under the root or spray the aerial part in order to increase the plant’s resistance to viral infections and eliminate the risk of its decay.

You can also learn about the causes of rotting ovaries of zucchini from the following video:

If you follow the simple rules for sowing zucchini, as well as organize competent planting care, you will not have to face the problem of rotting ovaries. If the plant is already affected, all measures should be taken to improve the planting and save the root crop.

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Anna Evans

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